The present invention relates to the production of air intakes for nacelles containing the engine group, particularly for a jet engine, for aircraft.
The nacelle has a substantially annular cross-section and defines between it and a central portion of the engine an annular so-called fan channel.
The wall of the nacelle defining the fan channel is treated acoustically and constitutes a sandwich formed from a central cellular core flanked, on the fan channel side, with an acoustically resistive layer and, on the other side, with a total reflector.
This wall is conventionally formed of several sectors or segments, generally three or four, butted together by clipping to constitute a substantially annular conduit.
It is also known to produce air intakes with the help of two clipped panels, substantially semicircular in cross-section, with the help of a mold having the shape of half of an air intake. This technology could be pursued to its limit so as to produce a fan channel panel that is not only of one piece but also without clips, if the shape of such a panel permitted demolding without disassembly or destruction of the mold, which is not the case, the wall of a fan channel being almost always of a re-entrant shape.